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Should I worry about a lump on my dog's chest near an old scratch?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Shar Pei | Male | 1 year and 6 months old | 50 lbs

Lump on his chest where a week or older scratch he received when he was outside but never seen lump until right now.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Ann Dion, DVM

Answered By Ann Dion, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on October 28th, 2018

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.
The lump there could be from many different causes:
1. infected ball of pus under the skin from a previous wound.
2. A foreign object stuck under the skin from the wound
3. A lump there unrelated to the wound (lipoma, tumor, etc.)
4. Scar tissue and non-infected inflammation secondary to the wound.
5. Other causes.

From the image the little red bit is suggestive that there might be a component of infection/inflammation ongoing, but overall it doesn't appear very angry or inflamed.

Ideally I would recommend having it seen, and your vet will likely put a needle into it to see if it is a ball of infection or something else.

Otherwise, if it isn't bothering Chase you can monitor it for now, and if it is getting smaller/going away don't worry, but if it is growing or hasn't started to shrink in 5-7 days I would get it checked.

Best of luck with Chase!
Vote Icon1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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